Lost Love
by OneHorseShay
Summary: Fallon Carrington tries to carry on with her life after saying goodbye to Liam, but a short business meeting gives her a new perspective on what it means to lose and move on. Post-'Mother? I'm at La Mirage'. Falliam, Fallon/Liam.


Lost Love  
By OneHorseShay  
Disclaimer: Don't Own, Don't Sue. For God sakes, don't sue.  
Pairing: Fallon/Liam (Falliam)  
Summery: Fallon Carrington tries to carry on with her life after saying goodbye to Liam, but a short business meeting gives her a new perspective on what it means to lose and move on. Post-'Mother? I'm at La Mirage'. Falliam

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Fallon Carrington idly tapped her pen on the notepad as the meeting with a potential business partnership carried on, but her mind was clearly somewhere else. She may have lost Femperim to her traitorous, so called friend, but she still owned the rest of the company that had originally owned the book company, so she still had to potential to build her own dynasty and that's why she was in this meeting in the first place.

However, the major problem facing her in creating her own dynasty was that she didn't have a companion with which to have offspring to leave it. It was that thought and several others from the events of the last few days that drew her attention: her ex and future husband for all practical purposes had died in her family's pool and what was left was a man who didn't want anything to do with her, the end of her friendship with Kirby and her bitter reaction and sabotaging one last ditch effort to reach Liam, saying her final goodbye to Liam then exploring the potential with Evan in trying to move on. The thoughts were clearly distracting her from properly carrying on the meeting to the point she honestly couldn't remember the gentleman's name that was sitting at the other end of the table from her.

Her idle thoughts were interrupted when the young gentleman on the other end of the table cleared his throat and suggested with a soft, carefree tone, "I think we need to take a little break. Why don't we have a refreshment break, get the chance to use the restroom?"

His party of assistants and lawyers exchanged curious glances as the meeting had practically started and not much had been hammered out, but they listened to the man that signed their paychecks. They stood up and headed out of the room, but the young businessman stayed in his seat, relaxing back in it and looked at the lovely heiress.

Fallon knotted her brow, wondering what he had planned. Her curiosity was peaked and motioned for her secretary to take a break with his people. The secretary closed the door behind her, leaving the pair alone.

The brunette heiress kept a curious gaze on her potential business partner, a fairly handsome young man at around her age with short brown hair and a fairly muscular build under his business suit, wondering why he would want to speak to her alone. She wasn't sure if it was some tactic to try to intimidate her with the lack of witnesses or perhaps trying to make a pass at her as she had the bad experience last year with another potential business partner that wanted to sleep with her.

Fallon was caught off guard when he softly spoke, "You have my deepest sympathies for your lost."

The heiress knotted her brow then asked, "Pardon?"

"For the lost of your fiancé. I do my homework on potential business partners and well, you were easy research with your high profile."

The Southern bell tightened her smile glanced down at her notepad then looked up at him. The last thing she wanted to talk about her personal life with a stranger and potential partner or rival.

He continued before she could muster a response, "I can… empathize with your loss, but—"

"You can?" Fallon cocked an eyebrow, doubting his word as of late she had a hard time trusting anyone's word with everyone betraying her one way or the other. She wanted to tell him that her personal life was not open to discussion and they should focus on the matter at hand.

However, he forced his smile a bit more, trying to push down the pain that was being rehashed in his soul as he replied, "I'm a widower."

Fallon paused for a moment to process what he had said then softly answered with a tone laced with sympathy, "Oh?"

He continued in a sympathetic tone, "Yes, so I can relate to how you may feel, but I think you have it far worst than what I experienced."

The young ambitious businesswoman paused again, slightly narrowing her gaze on him, studying the young man to try to gauge his truthfulness. In her haste to try to push forward, move past Liam in her personal and professional life, she had gotten careless and hadn't done a thorough job on the man she was going to be negotiating for a partnership, so she didn't know if he was telling the truth or not. She cleared her throat and curiosity got the better of her and asked in a cautious tone, "Why do you say that?"

"Because I was able to bury my wife. I had the Christian burial I knew she wanted, I had the service and the preacher said all the right words, we had an after service where we could talk about what joys she brought to our lives, you know all the rituals we go through to morn. I had my family and friends there for me, checking on me and tried to move on for some form of closure and at the end of it, I still know she's in Heaven, but for you… it's worst."

He took a breath, his facial expression looking as if he was in discomfort for her, then continued in a somber tone, "There is no chance for real closure. It's not a break up and it's not a death… it's some weird in-between." His expression turned into mild look of disgust. "Some kind of purgatory. There are no rituals to ease the pain or set one's life back on track. He's physically standing right there. You can walk up to him, talk to him, touch him, yet… the man you know is dead and actually _gone_… and what's really standing there… is some doppelganger that haunts you."

Fallon took a deep breath, actually hitching a bit as her mind took a second to process what he had said then the reality of it all slammed into her mind and her very soul. She had none of what he described. She could have dealt with the idea that Liam had drowned in the pool. She could have buried him and mourned him properly, knowing that after this life she could see him on the other side. She would've had some form of support, but he was alive yet not there. She had no one to support her other than Sam and in fact, everywhere she turned, people were sabotaging her whether they were her enemy such as Adam, Liam's mother and Liam's ex or who she thought was her friend, Kirby.

As that reality set in for her, she covered her mouth with a hand and felt the prickling behind her eyes, the tears wanting to flow as she hadn't really cried in saying goodbye to Liam. She had went back home and thrown herself into trying to move on with exploring something with Evan. He was kind and sweet and still a little hurt like her, so it was easier to talk to him than she thought and it put off truly mourning for what she had lost. It put off having to deal with those feelings.

She couldn't ignore and push down those feelings any longer. Her breath hitched one more time then she bowed her head then the tears started flowing down her cheeks. She clenched her eyes shut, trying to suppress the crying, but she couldn't fight them back any longer and began to cry. Her breath hitched as the tears freely flowed and she bowed her head. She covered her eyes with a hand.

In her moment of mourning of what she had lost and what could have been: a lifetime of happiness, the birth of their children then a created dynasty to leave to them and grandchildren long after they were gone, she didn't notice that the young man had gotten up from his seat and took a seat cattycorner to her until she felt his soft grip over her right hand still resting on the table. She tried clearing her throat and trying to compose herself, not wanting him or anyone else to see her like this, but she had to take a few tries before she could pull herself together. All the emotions she felt from sorrow to anger to hopelessness seemed to envelope her and didn't want to let go, having been denied too long to be felt.

After few more tries, she calmed her crying and lifted her head and wiped some of the tears from under right eye. She calmed her breathing then looked to him, seeing a sympathetic expression on his face.

He softly whispered, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

She tightened up her smile and slightly shook her head. She cleared her throat, but her voice was still strained by the emotions, "No, it's fine. I'm fine." She looked up meet his eyes and forced a smile as if she was the most confident person in the world. "I'm fine."

He cracked a soft smile and replied with a hint of humor in his voice, "I said that same lie to myself for a long time before it became the truth. It's alright not to be alright."

Fallon stared into his eyes for a moment, realizing he could see right through her and her smile faded a bit. She bowed her head to avoid eye contact and whispered out, a little horse, "Right…"

They sat there silently for a few moments then he pulled his hand off of her hand. "I'll let you compose yourself. We can postpone this meeting to whenever you like."

The Carrington heiress took a few more calming breaths then nodded her head and replied, "Thank you. I just need a few minutes then we can continue."

His smile grew a bit larger and replied with a supportive smile, "Tough woman."

He stood up and turned to leave her alone, but just as reached the door, Fallon called out, "What was her name?"

He paused, a faint smile on his face then turned to look to her and answered with a soft, almost reverent voice, "Her name was Jeanne… my sweet Jeanne." He seemed to be lost in a memory for a moment then turned his eyes back to her eyes and added with a lopsided smile, "It gets better and one day, you may find that kind of love again and build something… Heck, maybe you just get a miracle and you two find your way back to one another... Jeanne believed in miracles." He shrugged a shoulder with a smile. "Who knows?"

"Yeah, who knows?" she faintly replied with a halfhearted smile, letting her memory linger back onto Liam.

He nodded again, leaving her alone in the conference room and with her thoughts of the past, present and future, not realizing that in another part of the city, the novelist that she had fallen in love with was lost in the same thoughts due to a little black mask.

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Author's Note: Yes, it's been a while since I've published something due to life, but the Muse spoke, so I wrote. I hope you enjoyed this. Thanks you, OneHorseShay


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